Revision as of 20:38, 11 November 2005

Chinese is spoken in China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan), Singapore as well as the ethnic Chinese minorities in many countries. It is spoken by a fifth of the world's population. It is a tonal language that is related to Burmese and Tibetan. Although Japanese and Korean use Chinese written characters they are not related to Chinese. Also the unrelated Vietnamese language has borrowed many words from Chinese.

Although the Chinese consider that they only have a single language, there are major regional dialectal differences that would be considered to be separate languages in other parts of the world. In many cases the regional dialects are not clearly regionalised but vary gradually across a region. Thus linguists can identify anywhere between seven and seventeen separate Chinese languages where the speakers of different dialects are mutually unintelligible.

Putonghua (普通话), commonly known in English as Mandarin, is considered the official dialect and is covered by this phrasebook. Putonghua is based on, but not identical to, the Chinese spoken in and around Beijing. However, the Cantonese dialect, for example, is widely spoken, especially in the former British colony of Hong Kong and by the ethnic minorities in other countries. While formally written Mandarin can be read by speakers of both dialects, the spoken languages are, for most purposes, mutually unintelligible and will require translation. Mandarin Chinese is now being uniformly taught in the schools of China.

Vowels

as in ping or key; after sh, zh, or r, as in shirr; after s or z, hold the z and make a vowel of it

o

as in saw or sung

u

as in soon; but as ü in ju, qu and xu

ü

as in French lune

Consonants

Chinese stops distinguish aspirated and unaspirated, not voiceless and voiced as in English. So p, t, and k should be pronounced with a puff of air.

b

as in ball or spall

c

as in rats

ch

as in chore

d

as in do or stew

f

as in fun

g

as in gang

h

as in her

j

as in jeer

k

as in king

l

as in lease

m

as in mow

n

as in none

ng

as in sing

p

as in pit

q

as in cheap

r

as in genre or fair

s

as in sag

sh

as in shoot

t

as in tongue

w

as in wing

x

as in sheep

y

as in yet

z

as in red zebra

zh

as in jungle

Exceptions

There are a fairly large number of niggling exceptions to the basic rules above, based on the position of the sound. Some of the more notable ones include:

-ian

as -ien, so 天安門 Tian'anmen is pronounced "Tien'anmen"

wu-

as u-, so 五百 wubai is pronounced "ubai"

yi-

as i-, so 一个 yige is pronounced "ige"

yü-

as ü-

Tones

There are four tones in Mandarin that must be followed for proper pronunciation.

first tone ( ā )

flat, high pitch

second tone ( á )

low to middle, rising

third tone ( ǎ )

middle to low to high, dipping

fourth tone ( à )

high to low, falling

There is also a fifth tone, the neutral tone, which is used rarely, mostly for phrase particles.

Phrase list

All phrases shown in here use the simplified characters used in mainland China and Singapore.

Basics

To be or not to be?
Chinese does not have words for "yes" and "no" as such; instead, questions are typically answered by repeating the verb. Common ones include:

To be or not to be

是 shì, 不是 bú shì

To have or not have / there is or is not

有 yǒu, 没有 méi yǒu

To be right or wrong

对 duì, 不对 bù duì

Hello.

你好。 Nǐ hǎo.

How are you?

你好吗？ Nǐ hǎo ma? 身体好吗? Shenti hao ma?

Fine, thank you.

很好, 谢谢。 Hěn hǎo, xièxiè.

What is your (first) name?

你叫什么名字？ Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?

My name is ______ .

我叫 _____ 。 Wǒ jiào ______ .

Nice to meet you.

遇见您很高兴。 Yùjiàn ní hěn gaoxìng.

Please.

请。 Qǐng.

Thank you.

谢谢。 xìexie.

You're welcome.

不客气。 Bú kèqi.

Excuse me. (getting attention)

请问, qǐng wèn/ laojia, qing wèn

Excuse me. (begging pardon)

Da jiao yi-xia ; 麻烦您一下, Má fan nǐ le.

I'm sorry.

对不起。 Duìbùqǐ.

Goodbye

再见。 Zàijiàn

Goodbye (informal)

Bai-bai (Byebye)

I can't speak Chinese.

我不会说汉语。 Wǒ bú hùi shūo hànyǔ.

Do you speak English?

你会说英语吗？ Nǐ hùi shūo yīngyǔ ma?

Is there someone here who speaks English?

这里有人会说英语吗？ Zheli you ren hui shuo Yingyu ma?

Help!

救命 jìu mìng

Good morning.

早上好。 Zǎoshàng hǎo.

Good evening.

晚上好。 Wǎnshàng hǎo.

Good night.

晚安。 Wǎn ān.

I don't understand.

我听不懂。 Wo ting bu dong.

Where is the toilet?

厕所在哪里？ Césǔo zài nǎli?

To be translated later

Problems

Numbers

Chinese numbers are very regular. While Arabic (Western) numerals have become more common, the Chinese numerals shown below are still used, particularly in informal contexts like markets.

0 〇, 零

líng

1 一

yī

2 二

èr

3 三

sān

4 四

sì

5 五

wǔ

6 六

lìu

7 七

qī

8 八

bā

9 九

jǐu

10 十

shí

11 十一

shí-yī

12 十二

shí-èr

13 十三

shí-sān

14 十四

shí-sì

15 十五

shí-wǔ

16 十六

shí-lìu

17 十七

shí-qī

18 十八

shí-bā

19 十九

shí-jǐu

20 二十

èr-shí

21 二十一

èr-shí-yī

22 二十二

èr-shí-èr

23 二十三

èr-shí-sān

30 三十

sān-shí

40 四十

sì-shí

50 五十

wǔ-shí

60 六十

lìu-shí

70 七十

qī-shí

80 八十

bā-shí

90 九十

jǐu-shí

For numbers above 100, any "gaps" must be filled in with 〇 líng, as eg. 一百一 yībǎiyī would otherwise be taken as shorthand for "110". A single unit of tens may be written and pronounced either 一十 yīshí or just 十 shí.

100 一百

yī-bǎi

101 一百〇一

yī-bǎi-líng-yī

110 一百一十

yī-bǎi-yī-shí

111 一百一十一

yī-bǎi-yī-shí-yī

200 二百

èr-bǎi

300 三百

sān-bǎi

500 五百

wǔ-bǎi

1000 一千

yī-qiān

2000 二千

èr-qiān

Numbers above 10,000 are grouped by in units of four digits, starting with 万 wàn (ten thousand). "One million" in Chinese is thus "hundred tenthousands" (一百万).

10,000 一万

yī-wàn

10,001 一万〇一

yī-wàn-líng-yī

10,002 一万〇二

yī-wàn-líng-èr

20,000 二万

èr-wàn

50,000 五万

wǔ-wàn

100,000 十万

shí-wàn

200,0000 二十万

èr-shí-wàn

1,000,000 一百万

yī-bǎi-wàn

10,000,000 一亿

yi1yi4

number _____ (train, bus, etc.)

number measure word (lu4 or hao4 etc.) _____ (huo3 che1, gong1 gong4 qi4 chi1, etc. Measure words are used in combination with a number to indicate the count of mass nouns. Check out here for more details.)

half

半 bàn (...)

less

shao3yu1 (...)

more

duo1yu1 (...)

Time

now

现在 xiànzài

later

以后， yǐhòu or shāohòu

before

以前, yǐqián

morning

早上, zǎoshàng

afternoon

下午, xiàwǔ

night

晚上, wǎnshàng

Clock time

What time is it?

现在几点？ Xiànzài jǐ diǎn?

It is nine in the morning.

早上9点钟。 Zǎoshàng jǐu diǎn zhōng.

Three-thirty PM.

下午3点半. Xiàwǔ sān diǎn bàn.

Duration

_____ minute(s)

_____ 分钟 fēnzhōng

_____ hour(s)

_____ 小时 xiǎoshí

_____ day(s)

_____ 天 tiān

_____ week(s)

_____ 星期 xīngqī

_____ month(s)

_____ 月 yùe

_____ year(s)

_____ 年 nián

Days

today

今天 jīntiān

yesterday

昨天 zuótiān

tomorrow

明天 míngtiān

this week

这个星期 zhège xīngqī

last week

上个星期 shàngge xīngqī

next week

下个星期 xiàge xīngqī

Weekdays in Chinese are easy: starting with 1 for Monday, just add the number after 星期 xīngqī.

Sunday

星期天 xīngqītiān or xing1 qi1 ri4 or xing1 qi1 qi1

Monday

星期一 xīngqīyī

Tuesday

星期二 xīngqīèr

Wednesday

星期三 xīngqīsān

Thursday

星期四 xīngqīsì

Friday

星期五 xīngqīwǔ

Saturday

星期六 xīngqīlìu

Months

Months in Chinese are also easy: starting with 1 for January, just add the number after 月 yùe.

January

一月, yī yùe

February

二月, èr yùe

March

三月, sān yùe

April

四月, sì yùe

May

五月, wŭ yùe

June

六月, liù yùe

July

七月, qī yùe

August

八月, bā yùe

September

九月, jiŭ yùe

October

十月, shí yùe

November

十一月, shí yī yùe

December

十二月, shí èr yùe

Tips: From January to December, you just need to use this pattern: number (1-12) + yùe